Norwich City: Sky Bet Championship season preview 2016/17
Monday 1 August 2016 15:18, UK
All the transfer news, fan opinion, predictions and odds ahead of Norwich City's 2016/17 Sky Bet Championship campaign.
Last year's finish: 19th (Premier League)
Manager: Alex Neil
Title odds: 9/1 with Sky Bet
First five games: Blackburn (A), Sheffield Wednesday (H), Bristol City (H), Ipswich (A), Birmingham (A)
Players In: Sergi Canos (Liverpool, £2.5m), Michael McGovern (Free)
Players Out: Nathan Redmond (Southampton, £11m), Gary O'Neil (Bristol City, Undisclosed), Ricky van Wolfswinkel (Vitesse, £550,000)
Fan's view - Todd Coughlan
Expectation: I'm expecting a big challenge for automatic promotion. Nathan Redmond is the high profile departure but if we keep Robbie Brady at the club and Matt Jarvis, Steven Naismith, Cameron Jerome and Wes Hoolahan fit and injury free we'll create enough chances to win games. I think Youssouf Mulumbu coming back adds another good option in midfield. Couple that with some good youngsters coming through, I'm certainly positive for a promotion season.
Most Important player: Wes Hoolahan. Our main creator of attacks and at Championship level, he's a class above. The likes of Naismith, Jerome and Jarvis will profit on his vision for the killer pass.
Who will win the league: The Canaries!
Dark horse: Blackburn Rovers
One Championship player you'd want to sign: Newcastle's Moussa Sissoko, but he looks bound for the Premier League so after him, Fernando Forestieri of Sheffield Wednesday.
Ollie's prediction: 3rd
By keeping Alex Neil, who is a bright and inventive manager, it looks like they're focusing on stability, which will stand them in good stead. He'll have learned a lot last season and will get stronger. If they find a goalscorer they could easily go up automatically - I've seen they're in for Ross McCormack, that could make the difference. He's the best player outside the Premier League.
Sky Bet odds
The Canaries were relegated from the Premier League last season and Sky Bet make them 9/1 to bounce back straight away and be crowned champions. They are 9/4 to gain promotion and 4/5 for a top-six finish while a win in the Championship play-offs for Alex Neil's side can be backed at 8/1.
A dual forecast bet on Newcastle and Norwich to finish first and second in any order is on offer at 11/1 with Cameron Jerome among the leading fancies to be top scorer in the whole division this season at 16/1 with Sky Bet.
